Which distro for linux server?

[ProcalX]

My younger brother wants to run a call of duty 4 server, thanks to broadband slowly moving forward (and in a good area) his 20mb download package is dishing out around 2.1mb/s (2100kb/s on multiple downloads) and has a solid 450-600kb/s upload rate.

He's asked me to setup a dedicated server for him on a:
Celeron 2Ghz Laptop with 1GB memory and a 60gb hard drive, it's currently running XP, I'd just slap Ubuntu on it but would quite like to make a project of it and get a suitable distro and perhaps a custom kernel suited to the job.

Basic functions being SSH & FTP, was wondering what you'd recommend?

 

[Addis]

For a server Debian is probably the best, I use it on a small 900Mhz file/web/samba server and it handles everything fine. You could also use CentOS too.

 

[Anti-Trend]

A laptop is a very unusual dedicated server, since they're not designed for 24x7 operation, and they don't handle heat distribution very well. That said, I'd agree with Addis and also recommend Debian for a gaming server, specifically Debian with a low-latency kernel. Here's a kernel for Debian "Lenny", the current testing version of Debian, built for low-latency response and optimized for the P4 architecture:

Index of /pub/.repo/kernels/lenny/p4-desktop

If you opt to build one yourself instead, I'd download the latest stable source from kernel.org and build it the Debian way, with kernel-pkg. I'd definitely give it a 1000Hz kernel timer and opt for the lowest-latency voluntary preemption you can get, since game servers benefit much more greatly from quick response times than from the few CPU cycles lost to the added overhead.

 

[Addis]

If you opt to build one yourself instead, I'd download the latest stable source from kernel.org and build it the Debian way, with kernel-pkg. I'd definitely give it a 1000Hz kernel timer and opt for the lowest-latency voluntary preemption you can get, since game servers benefit much more greatly from quick response times than from the few CPU cycles lost to the added overhead.

Amen. A really annoying thing about Ubuntu is that the default kernel has a 250Hz timer, which means that midi sequencing software like Rosegarden doesn't function correctly. There's a low latency one available in the repos though.

 

[ProcalX]

I realise that laptops are far from ideal for use as servers but this one's battery is dead anyway and it's a unused machine so I might as well use it. Plus it'll be kept in a cool out of the way environment.

Cheers for that, i'll use debian and the low latency kernel, was going to use gentoo but last time i tried customising a kernel for that (learning it) it took me 4 months!